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The Haley way....

The Steelers took the dink-and-dunk philosophy to the extreme Sunday against the Redskins. Roethlisberger’s average pass traveled 4.8 yards downfield Sunday, his lowest average pass distance over the past five seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

Roethlisberger was effective on short passes, completing 21-of-28 passes (75.0 percent) thrown 10 yards or fewer downfield, including all three of his touchdowns. This was a surprising strategy against a Redskins pass defense that had allowed 29 completions for more than 20 yards this season (tied for second worst in the NFL).

This short passing game has been a key factor in the Steelers controlling the ball. Pittsburgh had three scoring drives that ate up 19 minutes, which is over a full quarter. The Steelers rank second in the NFL in time of possession, averaging 34 minutes, 35 seconds per game.

Some of those plays Haley draws up are sexy magic. In particular the 2nd play of the game, fake WR screen, and pass to Miller. He's way less predictable than Arians was, and just all around a more effective game planner and play caller.

I would say so far my only complaint is that they need to take more shots downfield. Since the running game seems to be coming to life, that opens up play-action. There really is no excuse not to take a few deep shots at Wallace per game.

I hope the reason they haven't taken more shots is because the offense feels it has to babysit the defense. The theory that the defense would be better if the offense possessed the ball was shot to hell in week 1. The best way to take pressure off of a defense is to score points. Worry about possession in the 4th quarter.

I would say so far my only complaint is that they need to take more shots downfield. Since the running game seems to be coming to life, that opens up play-action. There really is no excuse not to take a few deep shots at Wallace per game.

I hope the reason they haven't taken more shots is because the offense feels it has to babysit the defense. The theory that the defense would be better if the offense possessed the ball was shot to hell in week 1. The best way to take pressure off of a defense is to score points. Worry about possession in the 4th quarter.

I agree with calling more play-action (especially deep to Wallace)..........But overall I'm very happy with Todd Haley....I do think at times he still calls to many runs instead of going for the kill shot to put teams away but Haley is a very smart OC.......

I would like one or two more shots down the field but we are probably splitting hairs. It's working and that's all that matters. Ben is healthy and upright and everyone is overjoyed with that. I know I am.

I would like to see a few more shots down field too but for now I'm not too concerned about it. The only thing that keeps me really scratching my head every week is that the offense continues to go into a shell in the 4th quarter, relying on Dwyer to run out the clock. I want to see that killer attitude again, go for that extra score when you're up by 10 points instead of just turning the ball over with a punt. I know Dwyer ran out the clock 2 weeks ago, which was great but are they going to be able to pour it on and score points when they need too in the 4th quarter?